Two Types of Employees
by Stephen Blair on Aug.02, 2007, under Entrepreneurship
I have found there are two very different types of employees.
Employee X:
The X employee is most typically an hourly employee, but can also be a salary employee, but is always required to put in their 8 hours a day, no matter the work load. This type of employee shows up at 8am, takes a 15 minute break at 10am, takes an hour lunch at 12pm, another 15 minute break at 3pm, and is out the door at 5pm. It does not matter what the work load is or the importance of the work being time-sensitive or not. This is the schedule they have been given by there employer for them to follow so they follow it. Very rarely will you ever see this employee in the office early or still in the office after 5pm. The X employee does exactly what they are told to do being sure not to do more or less than what their job description says they do.
Employee Y:
The Y employee is typically a salary employee and comes and goes as he/she pleases, but is always there when it is necessary. This employee may work 2 hours in a day or may work 12 depending on what needs to be done. This is a very task oriented employee that tracks their progress by what is getting done versus the time they have put in. This employee will come up with new ways to get things done more efficiently in order to allow them to have more free time or more time to get other things done. This employee does everything in their job description and many things in other peoples job descriptions.
Now that these are both laid out, which type of employee are you? Which type of employee are you, not which one you would like to be. Some people have been brought up and trained as an X employee for so long that they wouldn’t have any idea how to be a Y employee and if they were given the freedom of a Y employee it could actually cause them to under perform. Some people completely disagree with the X employee type of employment and if placed in that type of employment, they too will actually under perform because of all the restrictions holding them back.
I believe it is an employers job to determine what type of employees they have working for them and come up with work structure and compensation plan for each individual employee. All too often in companies the employer thinks that every employee should be treated the same and have the same rights, rules, and restrictions as the rest and even base compensation on what another employee makes.
In my opinion, the employer that is not utilizing and compensating its employees properly is missing out on the employees full potential and the full potential of the company as a whole. If I were an employer I would hire a full staff of X employees if I wanted everything to stay the same and just wanted to get the exact same results day in and day out. I would hire a staff of Y employees if I wanted to continually push the envelope, expand my business, and have new ideas day in and day out.
3 Comments for this entry
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July 30th, 2010 on 5:13 am
Good post. In some companies there are Y employees that get treated like an X employee have are treated like a X employees. Interesting.
July 30th, 2010 on 5:13 am
Interesting post Steve, the only thing I would point out is that some businesses require the X employee. For instance, where the job requirement requires the employee to have similar consistent output everyday. It is usually a redundant task for which they are employed. As an example let’s say a staple puller and document organizer who preps documents to be digitally scanned. However…what most employers fail to recognize is that some of these X employees have the aptitude to do more, improve the redundant processes, and therefore push the envelope for that business. Likewise some people prefer to be the X employee and not deal with the stress of increasing responsibility and new tasks. They prefer rather to get to work knowing they will be comfortable in the fact they are doing the same thing they did yesterday, and punch out and go home. For these people work can be an escape to the challenges in their personal life or home life, and they do not want to deal with the stress of being a Y employee. I think the best business model is to have a mixture of both employees and for the employer to have the aptitude to recognize what each person brings to the table and follow through accordingly with tasks that are clearly defined, flexible and in tunned with the employees potential and desire. As you said, most employers just blindly start categorizing people into roles and assignments with out having a single clue as to WHO they are. Nice post!
July 30th, 2010 on 5:13 am
Nice post. I have to admit that I am a Y employee at heart, but have found myself imposing the X employee mentality on myself at places that I have worked where it was clear that being a Y employee wasn’t going to get me any more than an X employee gets (i.e. compensation, recognition, etc.). Now I am in the S quadrant of the Rich Dad triangle so my Y employee mentality can shine. My advice is to ditch the employee mentality all together though, neither X nor Y will ever see thier full potential as long as they never fully explore it.